Hearing God in Culture

'Since we know that God speaks in all things and about all things (in the pub as well as the church, and through friends as well as the Bible), we should certainly expect to hear his voice in the culture far beyond the walls of the church. And in many ways, this is the greatest discovery of them all, the culmination and conflagration of everything else we have explored... that the Maker of all things has not abandoned his Great Project. The Creator is still creating the cosmos and the cultures in which we live. He is still actively at work within his world, speaking brilliant new things into existence (babies and films, galaxies and songs). Our universe is still expanding! People are still falling in love! Scientists have not yet run out of things to discover. Novelists are somehow still stumbling upon ideas worth exploring. Priests continue to greet coffins with the great defiant cry, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25 NIV UK).

There is no aspect of God’s creation through which he cannot and does not speak. We wake up each day to discover that ‘His [tender] compassions never fail. They are new every morning’ (Lam. 3:22–3, AMP). We open our Bibles and lo, he speaks! We still ourselves for a few moments, and there he is again! We open our newspapers and find him still speaking if our ears remain open to hear. We arrive at work and he deliberately, playfully whispers a little word to our souls through that colleague who doesn’t yet know he exists. Our eyes linger a little too long on the shape of a stranger and the Lord speaks sharply through our conscience. We watch a film and it moves us to pray. We switch on the radio and he speaks through a song. Looking up at the sky as the stars come out, we strongly sense an ancient truth:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech.” (Ps. 19:1–2 NIV UK)’

Lord, teach me to see you in all things. Show me where you are hiding in creation, in culture, in art, news, and relationships. I want to meet with you in all parts of your world.

Amen.